Coach Chris Arledge Gymnasium

Coach Chris Arledge’s career in MISD as a P.E. coach began in 1973, when she began teaching Physical Education at William B. Travis Elementary.

She served at WBT until the 1980s, when she moved over to become the P.E. coach at Price T. Young Middle School. While at PTY, in 1982-83, Coach Arledge played a huge part in the growth and development of the “Hearty Hearts” jump rope team in Marshall ISD.

The Hearty Hearts traveled around the area performing jump rope routines and providing entertainment at countless events as a show team. Performances included stops at local nursing homes, parades, fairs and fundraising events, among others. Under Coach Arledge’s guidance, the Hearty Hearts became one of the premier jump rope teams in the state.

Her commitment and love for her students was reciprocated through their hard work and performance either as a jump rope team or in her P.E. classes taught first at WBT and then at PTY. Coach Arledge hung up her jump rope and whistle when she retired from teaching in 1995, but her commitment to the sport and to the American Heart Association’s “Jump Rope for Heart” promotion carries a lasting legacy even today in Marshall ISD’s physical education activities.

Coach Arledge was in attendance during the official dedication of the WBT gymnasium in her honor on Aug. 31, 2017. She passed away on April 6, 2018, but her commitment, her hard work and her spirit for Marshall students and their physical health will live on forever in the gymnasium that bears her name at William B. Travis.